Mi-24 Hind

The Mil Mi-24 (NATO reporting name "Hind") is a Soviet helicopter gunship and attack helicopter with a cabin for eight troops, built by the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant. It first flew on 19 September 1969, entered Soviet Air Force service in 1972 and remains in production, with 2,648 built; as of 2026 it serves with 52 countries. Export versions are designated Mi-25 ("Hind D") and Mi-35 ("Hind E"), the modernised Mi-35M being covered separately. Soviet crews nicknamed it the "flying tank" and "Krokodil"; it has no direct Western counterpart as an armoured gunship with a troop compartment.

Development

In the early 1960s the Mil bureau's head designer conceived a flying infantry fighting vehicle. A mock-up designated V-24, unveiled in 1966, seated eight troops back to back with stub wings for six missiles or rockets and a GSh-23L twin cannon. The military required a rapid-fire heavy machine gun in a chin turret in place of the cannon, and a directive of 6 May 1968 ordered development of a 10.5-tonne twin-engine design around the Izotov TV3-117 turboshaft. The prototype made a tethered hover on 15 September 1969 and its first free flight four days later.

Acceptance testing from June 1970 ran 18 months and brought structural strengthening, a 12-degree anhedral on the wings to cure Dutch roll above 200 km/h (124 mph), relocation of the Falanga missile pylons from the fuselage to the wingtips and a tail rotor moved to the left side with reversed rotation. The Mi-24A entered production in 1970 and was formally accepted in 1972. A Mi-24B stripped of its stub wings set the absolute helicopter speed record of 368.4 km/h (228.9 mph) on 21 September 1978, which stood until 1986. In October 2007 the Russian Air Force planned to replace the Mi-24 with the Mi-28N and Ka-52 by 2015, but after operations in Syria it kept the type and upgraded it.

Design

The Mi-24 uses dynamic components from the Mi-8, with two top-mounted Isotov TV3-117 turboshafts of 1,600 kW (2,200 shp) each driving a 17.3 m (57 ft) five-blade main rotor and a three-blade tail rotor. Early versions had an angular greenhouse cockpit, replaced from the Mi-24D by a tandem cockpit under "double-bubble" canopies. Mid-mounted stub wings spanning 6.5 m (21 ft 4 in) carry three stations each and supply up to a quarter of total lift at speed. Titanium rotor blades and the cockpit glazing resist 12.7 mm rounds, the crew sits in a titanium-armoured tub, and the cockpit and cabin are overpressurised against NBC contamination.

Empty weight is 8,500 kg (18,739 lb) and maximum take-off weight 12,000 kg (26,455 lb). Maximum speed is 320 km/h (200 mph), range 450 km (280 mi), service ceiling 5,750 m (18,860 ft) and rate of climb 15 m/s (3,000 ft/min). The crew is a pilot and a weapons operator in tandem, with an optional flight technician in the cabin. The cabin takes eight troops or four stretchers, and the external sling 2,400 kg (5,291 lb). The engine layout vents exhaust sideways rather than into the rotor wash, creating two heat sources for infrared missiles, and Mil abandoned it on the Mi-28.

Armament

Gun armament is a flexible 12.7 mm Yak-B four-barrel machine gun in a chin turret on the Mi-24D and Mi-24V, a flexible twin-barrel 23 mm GSh-23L cannon with 450 rounds on the Mi-24VP, Mi-24VM and Mi-35M, or a fixed side-mounted twin-barrel 30 mm GSh-30K cannon on the Mi-24P. The six wing stations carry up to 2,400 kg (5,291 lb): inner pylons take 500 kg, outer pylons 250 kg, and the wingtip rails pairs of 9M17 Falanga missiles on the Mi-24A to D or 9K114 Shturm on the Mi-24V and later. Rocket pods range from the UB-16 and UB-32 for 57 mm S-5s to the B-8V20 for 80 mm S-8s, alongside single 240 mm S-24 rockets; gun pods include the GUV-8700 (a Yak-B with two 7.62 mm GShG guns, or a 30 mm AGS-17 grenade launcher) and the UPK-23-250 with a GSh-23L. Bombs up to 500 kg hang on MBD multiple racks, KGMU2V pods dispense submunitions and mines, and R-60 and R-60M infrared missiles can be carried one or two per pylon.

Operational History

Soviet-flown Ethiopian Mi-24s made the type's combat debut in the Ogaden War of 1977–1978. Afghan government Mi-24s arrived in April 1979 and the first was shot down on 18 July 1979. During the Soviet–Afghan War the in-theatre force rose from 85 in 1980 to 120 in 1985 by a 1987 CIA estimate; troop carrying was abandoned and the compartment armour often removed, crews favoured the 80 mm S-8 over the lighter S-5 and bombs of 100 to 500 kg, and from 1986 the Stinger forced a shift from diving attacks to nap-of-the-earth approaches. Russian sources put losses at 74 helicopters, 27 to Stingers and two to Redeyes; the last Soviet Mi-24 fell on 2 February 1989.

Iraqi Mi-25s met Iranian AH-1J SeaCobras in a series of helicopter-versus-helicopter engagements, losing two to TOW missiles in November 1980 and two more on 24 April 1981; final claims were 10 SeaCobras against 6 Mi-25s. Russia lost 11 in the first year of the Second Chechen War and used Mi-24PNs against Georgia in 2008. Iraq ordered 34 Mi-35Ms in 2013 and lost one to an FN-6 at Baiji on 3 October 2014. Azerbaijani forces shot down a Russian Mi-24 with a MANPADS on 9 November 2020, killing two crew, in what Baku called an accident.

Ukraine lost two Mi-24s to MANPADS near Sloviansk on 2 May 2014. In the 2022 invasion a Russian Mi-35M fell to a MANPADS over the Kyiv Reservoir on 1 March 2022, a Ukrainian 16th Army Aviation Brigade Mi-24 was lost over Brovary on 8 March, and two Ukrainian Mi-24s reportedly struck an oil depot in Belgorod on 1 April 2022. The Czech Republic, Poland (at least a dozen by July 2023) and North Macedonia donated Mi-24s to Ukraine. As of 27 May 2025, the Oryx tally of documented losses was 18 Russian (4 Mi-24P, 4 Mi-24V/P/Mi-35M, 10 Mi-35M) and 9 Ukrainian. Ukraine's ground forces held 39 as of 2025, and Hungary retired its last eight in 2026.

Variants

• Mi-24A: Initial production version from 1970 with the angular greenhouse cockpit, 12.7 mm nose gun and 9M17 Falanga missiles on wingtip pylons.
• Mi-24D (Hind-D): Tandem cockpit under double-bubble canopies with a flexible 12.7 mm Yak-B turret and Falanga missiles; exported as the Mi-25.
• Mi-24V (Hind-E): Mi-24D fitted with the 9K114 Shturm anti-tank complex and B-8V20 S-8 rocket pods; exported as the Mi-35.
• Mi-24P (Hind-F): Gunship with a fixed side-mounted twin-barrel 30 mm GSh-30K cannon replacing the turret; Russia and Serbia also fly it as the Mi-35P.
• Mi-24PN: Night-capable upgrade of the Mi-24P flown by Russia, credited in 2008 with destroying two Georgian T-72 tanks at night with guided missiles, though some sources attribute the kills to Mi-28s.
• Mi-35M: Modernised version with the GSh-23L cannon, bought by Iraq (34) and Pakistan (4) among others; described separately.